314 Journal of Agriculture. [10 May, 1909. 



C A 'Y A L UNA. 



{Continued from page 2J i .) 



F. de Castella, Government Viticulturii>i. 



Priorato Wines and the Rancio Taste. 



These words have already been used once or twice; before proceeding 

 to describe the wine-cellars I visited it will be well to explain their exact 

 meaning. Priorato is really the name of a small district in the province 

 of Tarragona which has long been celebrated for the wines it produced ; 

 so much so that its name has come to represent a type of wine with a 

 distinct character of its own, known both in Spain and France as Rancio. 

 This special flavour is rather difficult to define. It reminds one, at the 

 same time, both of Port and of Madeira though distinct from either. 

 Muscat wines, which through age have lost most of their muscat character 

 and have become nutty, usually possess a distinct Rancio tendency. Certain 

 wines of high alcoholic strength develop this character very readily and in 

 several parts of Cataluha they have long been known and appreciated. 

 The development of this special flavour is accompanied by a marked 

 change of colour ; this lightens considerably and at the same time becomes 

 tawny. The exact nature of this transformation has not been thoroughly 

 studied ; it appears to be mainly an oxidation process, for it takes place 

 more readily in w^ood than in bottle. The two principal factors which 

 contribute to its development are the variet\ of wine grown and the type 

 of soil ; if both are suitable, it develops very xeadily. 



The Garnacho or Grenache is the variety which most easily produces 

 this type of wine. When young, it has a bright red colour, similar to 

 that yielded by most other red grapes. With age, especiallv if made from 

 overripe grapes, this changes, gradually becoming more and more 

 "tawny"' or "onion peel colour" as it is described in French; very 

 frequentlv and especiallv if the soil on which the grapes were grown was 

 of the required type the Rancio taste develops at the same time. Instability 

 of colour, which in the case of an ordinary dry wine is one of the chief 

 defects of the Grenache, becomes in this special case an advantage. The 

 influence of soil is very striking. If this be of the right type, viz. 

 a stony hillside of Primary slate or schist, the Rancio taste is almost certain 

 to accompany the change of colour, which is less stable than when grown 

 on limey soils. Though Grenache is largely grown throughout northern 

 Spain and southern France, it is only on Primary soils that this character 

 develops. When grown in other formations, a red wine of good quality 

 is often produced, but without distinctive character. The more stony the 

 soil, provided the geological formation be nf the right kind, the more pro- 

 nounced is the development of the Rancio- flaxour and in the pi::aras (slates) 

 of the Priorato district, and some other parts of Cataluna. it is par- 

 ticularly pronounced. 



Only in wines nf fairly high alcoholic strength — over 25 |ier rent, of 

 jjroof spirit — is t\-\\% transformation advantageous ; in lighter wines 

 it is a defect, and in the case of wines of a claret tvpe its occurrence, 

 even in a slight degree, is an accident to be avoided. 



It is these Ranrio wines which form the basis of what is so large) v 

 shipped to England under the name of Tarragona Port at the present dav. 

 The development of Rancio flavour belongs to the same class of changes 

 as that of the Port character in the celebrated wines of the Alto Douro in 

 Portugal. It is remarkable that the geological formation in that privileged 



